


es la vida quien dice cuál es el destino

by Lire_Casander



Series: gotas en un laberinto [1]
Category: 9-1-1: Lone Star (TV 2020)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Mentions of the Solar Flares, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-15 08:20:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28810257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lire_Casander/pseuds/Lire_Casander
Summary: owen strand is a pro at embarrassing both tk and carlos
Relationships: Carlos Reyes/TK Strand
Series: gotas en un laberinto [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2112216
Comments: 16
Kudos: 172
Collections: 9-1-1 Tales, Carlos Reyes Week 2021





	es la vida quien dice cuál es el destino

**Author's Note:**

> beta’ed by [meloingly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/meloingly). any remaining mistakes are my own
> 
> title from _la historia de tu vida_ by maldita nerea. the title roughly translates into _it’s life who gets a say in fate_
> 
> written for [carlos reyes week 2021](https://carlosreyesweek.tumblr.com/post/631367369198092288/announcing-carlos-reyes-week), **_day #1: “i love you, but stop talking” + fluff + favorite line/scene_**

Carlos is torn between laughing and hiding his reddening face in the crook of TK’s neck to try and mask his embarrassment. He knew this could happen when they began talking about throwing this particular party, but he always thought the mortification would come from his side of the family — not from Captain Owen Strand, a little worse for the weather after one too many wine glasses. He chooses to drop a kiss onto the tender skin of his newly-wed husband as he moves to bury his face there, shaking slightly as TK laughs — not so subtly — at his father’s words.

He’s been at it for what feels like hours now, although Carlos knows that objectively it can’t be longer than five or six minutes. But after his mother’s retelling of one of the worst episodes of his childhood — when he believed he could be Superman and tried jumping off the rooftop — Carlos had thought the cringe-worthy stories of his past were over. He’d thought it would be TK’s turn when Owen had stood up and announced that he was giving the best man’s speech.

Carlos had been so wrong, it isn’t even funny.

“—and there he stood, sporting heart eyes and the goofiest smile in the world, right outside of the station, waiting for TK. And I knew Carlos was in love with my son before, but that moment made me believe it,” Owen is saying, recounting his perspective of the day that Carlos almost lost TK for the second time in less than twenty-four hours — first at that silly bobba tea place and then after the solar flare when he played superhero without backup.

“Dad,” TK cuts in, chuckling. “What’s the point in retelling _all_ of our history when everyone here suffered through it the first time? And telling it backwards?”

“Yeah, listen to your son, he’s right!” Judd calls out from his place at one of the tables that are near theirs. It comes out surrounded by a chorus of laughters, making Carlos believe that everyone’s having fun at his expense.

He knows he’s always been a little way over the moon about TK — and not only about those green eyes that had captured him the first moment he locked his own gaze to theirs, but also the charisma and the insecurity, the softness underneath the sharp angles of that soul that Carlos has come to cherish more than his own life — but to see it dissected by his father-in-law in front of the rest of their friends and family seems a little too much for him.

“Because,” Owen replies pointedly. Carlos looks up long enough to notice that the 126 Captain has turned toward them fully now, and he’s scolding his son. “Because it’s easy to see now that you two are in love, and it was easy to see it back then after you got shot, TK, but before that? Those little details that were there all the time? I bet even you, TK, couldn’t see them.”

“Go ahead then,” TK concedes, shaking his head. “Embarrass us a little more. Keep waxing poetic about how Carlos looked at me back then.”

Carlos groans audibly among the cackles of their guests. “Don’t _encourage_ him!”

“Nothing I can do about it, sweetheart,” TK whispers. “You can keep hiding. I love feeling you against me.”

Carlos bites down on his lower lip before repositioning himself against TK’s neck, the lewd innuendo in his husband’s voice working its magic through his body. He can feel himself growing _interested_ , even though there’s still a long time until they’re all alone in their nuptial suite for the night.

“As I was saying, there was always the _heart eye_ factor, as Marjan cleverly put it once,” Owen continues, earning some catcalls from the team. “Even after saving so many people during the solar flare, he came up to me and told me that my son was impressive, and guess what?” He pauses, clearly waiting on the crowd to ask him for more.

Carlos knows what comes next, and he’s about to wiggle his way out of this reception when he realizes that the movement might give a little too much away of how he’s currently feeling for his husband. He remains in place, hoping that the torture ends soon.

“What?!” Michelle echoes Owen’s words. _Traitor_ , Carlos thinks.

“He’d already told TK the same about me, the first call we worked together with APD here in Austin. So I guess Carlos Reyes has something going on for the Strand boys, huh?”

“Dad!” TK gasps, feigning being scandalized.

“I’m not wrong, and you know it!” Owen stops briefly to sip from his champagne glass. “Anyway, they started strong from the first moment they met, like shooting stars finding their way to each other in the dark. It was a beautiful sight to behold, and I am thankful to have been a witness of a love so strong that it has defied every law ever known to man. After a nuclear disaster in my son’s life, being held in the light that’s Carlos Reyes is the best thing to ever happen to TK. Now, allow me to reminisce about how my son-in-law found out that TK’s full name is—”

“Dad,” TK interrupts loudly, leaning forward and causing Carlos to stumble as well, landing awkwardly on his elbow on the table as TK reaches out and takes both the microphone and the champagne glass from Owen’s grasp. “I love you, but stop talking.”

“But I was about—”

“What do you say, we the newly-weds kiss?” TK all but cries out, drowning his father’s voice as Owen tries to outwin him and tell everyone the best-kept secret in TK’s life. Carlos chuckles, but obliges when their guests wolf-whistle and call on them to kiss.

He presses his lips to TK’s chastely, a mere brush until TK grabs him by the back of his neck and pushes him into a messier kiss — a byproduct of their excitement at having finally tied the knot and the knowledge that there’s a king-sized bed waiting for them — and Carlos melts against his husband. They kiss lazily for what feels like eons until Michelle and Paul start booing them over the rest of the voices, and they part, panting for breath and grinning wildly.

“I love you,” TK whispers.

“I love you too,” Carlos retaliates. He will never grow tired of saying those words — he’s always known that TK was his forever, but he had needed to walk on eggshells around TK for the first part of their relationship for fear of scaring him away. TK had always been the missing piece in Carlos’ life — he would have been a fool to let him go without a fight.

He leans in for another peck, unable to resist those bottomless green eyes, as Owen accepts his defeat and cheers for them as well, raising his glass.

“Someday, I will tell everyone your secret, Tyler Kennedy,” he whispers against TK’s lips.

“Today’s not that day, Reyes.”

“It’s Reyes-Strand for you,” Carlos jabs.

TK just laughs merrily as he wraps his arms around Carlos and kisses him silly, until the stars are the only thing Carlos can see behind his closed eyelids.


End file.
